TPS Extended for El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela

Yesterday, DHS announced the extension of Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine and Venezuela. It’s a move designed to protect TPS beneficiaries from incoming President Trump’s vocal distaste for the TPS program.

During his first administration, President Trump sought to terminate TPS status for Sudan, Nicaragua, Nepal, Haiti , El Salvador,  and Honduras. While opponents won at the trial court level (Ramos v. Neilsen, 336 F. Supp. 3d 1075, 1080–81 (N.D. Cal. 2018)), the government won on appeal (Ramos v. Wolf, 975 F.3d 872 (9th Cir. 2020). The litigation regarding TPS only ended when Biden took office and sought dismissal (Ramos v. Mayorkas, 2023 WL4363667 (9th Cir. 2023)).

This past October, Trump stated his intention to revoke TPS for Haiti, not one of the countries impacted by yesterday’s announcements, but evidence of Trump’s continued focus on TPS. Incoming VP Vance has stated a broader intention to “stop doing mass grants of Temporary Protected Status.”

Immprof Ahilan Arulanantham (ACLU), who litigated on behalf of TPS beneficiaries during the first Trump administration, has vowed that advocacy groups will hold the government its required burden of “an objective assessment of the conditions for each country to decide whether that country is safe for the return of nationals” before ending TPS. But I’m inclined to agree with the grimmer take of immprof Lenni Benson (NYLS) that “the Trump administration is likely to be more sophisticated in documenting its policy rationale for why Temporary Protected Status is no longer justified” this term around.

All that said, yesterday was an important step to buy individuals from El Salvador, Sudan, Ukraine, and Venezuela just a little more time under TPS.

-KitJ